


Controversy, Attention, Tomato, Tomato

by loki_of_jotunheim



Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz, Leverage
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, OT3, Spyfest 2020 (Alex Rider), i think. its sorta crack but also not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:30:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25340146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loki_of_jotunheim/pseuds/loki_of_jotunheim
Summary: Prompt: Where some people see coincidence, I see conspiracy. For SpyFest 2020.Stephen Park is sure he'll be able to buy the land. His methods had worked in the past, why shouldn't they now? It's just a bank!It was not, in fact, a bank.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 54
Collections: Spyfest 2020





	Controversy, Attention, Tomato, Tomato

**Author's Note:**

> The original plan I had this was ...crackier. In short, Blunt and Park are trapped in an elevator together, they say the quotes, and someone (I had planned it to be Yassen) watches them just...absolutely drive each other into a frenzy. Instead, we got this. Oh well!

“So you want to build a … lifestyle center, and tear down the Bank to do so.” Blunt said, voice devoid of all emotions. “And you’re willing to pay… What was it?” 

“2 million pounds.” Andrew Grant, under the alias Stephen Park, tapping his foot incessantly, repeated with a smile. “It’s fair market price for a bank.” 

“The bank is not for sale.” Blunt informed the man. “ Have a nice day.” 

“You’re not even willing to consider it?” Grant said, disappointed. “Well, I hope you’ll reconsider. Have a nice day, Mr. Blunt. I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other soon.” 

“I doubt it.” Blunt muttered as the man left. He pressed a button on his desk. “Have him watched.” 

“Yes, sir.” His assistant replied. 

“Hey, Andrei. Yeah, no, he didn’t take it. Go ahead and call our other friends. If he won’t sell, we’ll just have to make him.” 

“Yes, sir.” Andrei, Grant’s new assistant, said. He kept his misgivings to himself. He’d heard rumors of the bank being more than it seemed, but Grant wouldn’t appreciate hearing them. 

Neither of them noticed the cars following them. 

“What do we know about Stephen Park?” Blunt asked Mrs. Jones. She picked up a file.

“Stephen Park - formerly known as Andrew Grant - was a real estate developer from America. He was arrested several years ago on bribery and assault charges. Just got released this year, as a matter of fact.” Mrs. Jones placed a picture of Grant being arrested onto the desk. There was a group behind him, with all of their faces blurred. Unusual for MI6 documentation. 

Mrs. Jones knew who they were, of course. The group had quite the name for themselves. Leverage International had, on occasion, worked with an intelligence agency or two to take down someone the agency coincidentally needed removed. They were the best out there - SCORPIA had even tried to recruit them. 

_ That _ debacle had been fun to watch. Scorpia had been forced to retreat with their tail tucked behind their legs for fear of losing all of their resources, dammed be the consequences of the removal of the organization. The reason they had been allowed to remain was that they were simply too big for the group of thieves to destroy without causing ripples that would be extremely detrimental to the rest of the world. It had been a close call.

Grant had had a run-in with them, Mrs. Jones, knew, and he had lost, badly. He had had his company stripped from him, his name ruined and his freedom removed. The Leverage team’s MO. Your business, your possessions, your name. 

Mrs. Jones was almost tempted to call them in for this. She was sure they’d love hearing about Grant’s release. She made a note to contact them if Grant got too feisty. Give the team temporary access to legal methods to take him down again - fostering trust in the process. 

“He’s known for getting what he wants - whether it be legal means or otherwise. He had a priest beat up in the sale that got him arrested. That’s when he also encountered Leverage International.” 

“Leverage International?” Blunt said sharply. “They’re very good.” 

“Indeed. This was before they had the Black Book as well.” Mrs. Jones pointed out. That had been an amazing accomplishment, even she had to admit that. From a non-spy point of view, she understood and even supported their actions, especially because of the care they handled taking the names down with. From a professional standpoint, she was not granted the luxury of approving the actions, even if the methodology was flawless. 

“If Grant gets to be too curious, call them in. I’m sure they’d enjoy taking him on again.” Blunt said. 

“I had guessed as much.” Mrs. Jones agreed. Blunt wasn’t surprised. “How should we handle him for now?” 

“Watch him. See what his plans are. If he gets too close, have him discouraged. If he persists after that, call the Leverage International team.” Mrs. Jones nodded and left without another word. 

Blunt was leaving the building when he spotted the man waiting to follow him almost instantly. He wasn’t very good at hiding. Against his better instincts, he let the man follow him a-ways. Blunt slipped into an alley and waited for the man to catch up.

As the man rounded the corner, he was met with a gun to the chest and Blunt staring at him, appearing bored. 

“What are you -” The man spluttered. 

“Stephen Park sent you to follow me,” Blunt stated. “You can inform him that the next time I will not be as discreet.” 

The man who’d followed Blunt knew that was a dismissal and slunk away. 

Park was going to be pissed. 

“What do you mean, he saw you? I thought you said you were good at this!” Grant raged at the man sitting across from him. 

“I don’t know. I’ve never followed anyone like him. He had a gun and he wasn’t at all phased by me. It was freaky - he looked...grey.” The man said, shuddering. “I’ll just leave. I don’t need the rest of the money. That man is terrifying.” 

“ _I’m_ terrifying.” Grant reminded him furiously. 

“Not as much as he is.” The would-be mugger said, and left. Grant spluttered for a moment. 

“Andrei!” He finally screeched. “Call our next guy.” 

“The sniper?” Andrei appeared from the other room. 

“Yes, the sniper. We don’t need him to kill Blunt - just scare him.” Andrei nodded and disappeared just as quickly. 

Blunt paused before he walked into the bank the next morning, feeling the itch of a sniper on the back of his shoulder before it disappeared. 

Less than a moment later, the concrete above his head exploded. Blunt didn’t react, simply brushed the fragments off of his head and jacket, and continued inside. 

He’d have Jones increase the security again around that rooftop later. It was proving to be a problematic location.

“He didn’t react?” Grant said, staring at the sniper. “At all?” 

“I mean, he brushed himself off, but that’s it. He just walked in. I think - I think he sensed me before I shot at him. He paused before he went in.” 

“How would he have sensed you?” Grant exclaimed. “You’d been there for hours already.” 

“When someone is aiming a gun at you, you can feel it sometimes.” The sniper answered. “The way he reacted - it’s not his first time, and I doubt it’s not unfamiliar to him. And if the rumors are true about that bank, I shouldn't have taken this job in the first place. Goodbye, Mr. Park.” The sniper, like the mugger, left just as quickly as the first. 

“Wait - what rumors?” Grant said before the door shut. “It’s just a bank!” 

Andrei wisely kept his mouth shut. 

“He took a shot at you and you’re just telling me now?” Mrs. Jones, in a rare display of concern, exclaimed. “Alan, I realize you think he’s not a huge problem, but there was a sniper. Less than a year after another sniper on that same roof!” 

“We still have no solid proof the two are connected.” Blunt dismissed. “And the sniper wasn’t aiming to kill me - he was aiming to scare me. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t work. We need something more than this. We're certain it's Grant, but he’s gotten better at covering his tracks. We need to be thorough.” 

“At least come in through a back entrance for a while.” Mrs. Jones said wearily. 

“I will, Tulip. No using providing more opportunities.” It was a moment of rare emotion for both of them. He didn’t want his deputy to get distracted over such a small problem. “Actually, I was thinking of arranging a meeting with Grant soon, anyways.” Blunt continued. “One of our facilities.” 

“Which one?” Mrs. Jones didn’t let the relief show. 

“How about next door?” Blunt suggested. 

“Hello?” Grant called as he walked into the large, mostly dark room. The receptionist had pointed him here, but he was having his doubts. “Anyone here?” 

“Why don’t you have a seat?” A voice emerged from the shadows, and Grant redirected his steps that way. A table was there with two empty chairs, and after a moment of deliberation, he sat. 

“I hope this means you’ve reconsidered your position.” Grant began. “I can have the money -” 

“Stop.” The voice from earlier said. Alan Blunt stepped into the light, followed by another woman. She had dark skin, and short, straight hair. He hadn’t seen her before. She gave him a smile, but it wasn’t friendly. “This is my deputy, Mrs. Jones.” Blunt nodded to Mrs. Jones. 

“A pleasure.” She sounded just as… emotionless as Blunt did. Grant was starting to get a bad feeling about all of this. 

“..Hi, nice to meet you.” Grant finally said. “As I was saying - the money can be transferred in -” 

“We’re not selling.” Blunt interrupted him. “Mrs. Jones, would you show him the file?” 

Mrs. Jones handed him a file and he opened it to his face staring right back at him with the name Andrew Grant in bold. 

Who were these people? How did they find this out?

“If you’re trying to scare me, nice try, but it didn’t work.” Grant finally decided to try and bluff his way through.

“Ah. Like the sniper.” Blunt agreed. Grant felt his eyes widen before he slammed his expression closed. “Yes, we just finished tracing that to you, as a matter of fact. The man was very helpful. The mugger as well. I daresay he won’t be mugging anyone anymore.” 

Grant felt his heartbeat quicken, and not for the first time, wished he still had his anxiety pills. Had they killed the sniper, whoever they were? Were they about to kill him?” 

“You can’t just kill me. It would cause controversy. If I go missing people will -” 

“Notice? No. But I quite like your quote about controversy.” Blunt interrupted as if Grant hadn’t said a word. “It’s true, of course. People tend to pay attention to controversy. I have a similar saying. Would you like to hear it?” 

“Do I have a choice?” Grant said, slightly hysterically. 

“Where some people see coincidence, I see conspiracy,” Blunt said. “Two attempts at killing me - that’s not the work of a lone developer. Especially taking into consideration your other past...incidents. It almost might suggest that you’re employed by someone...say, an organization like SCORPIA.” 

“I - What? Who’s SCORPIA?” Even as he asked, he remembered the name. “No, no -  _ no _ . I don’t work for them. They’re  _ crazy _ .” 

“People will believe us if we explain your disappearance in such a way that it suggests you were one of their agents. Of course, you wouldn’t say, because it’s SCORPIA. But it would hold.” Mrs. Jones spoke. Grant felt a chill run down his spine. 

“When you say controversy, I hear attention.” Blunt quoted. Grant recognized it as his own words. He held back a hysterical laugh. “Where some people see coincidence, I see conspiracy. With the right manipulations...that attention could be led to believe in conspiracy, not just attention.” 

“Who are you people?” Grant asked, no longer hiding the fear. Maybe it would help him. “What do you want?” 

“You will back off. The Bank is not for sale.” Blunt said. His tone was deadly. “As for who we are - well, take a look at the wall.”

A sign hung above a light Grant was fairly sure hadn't been on five minutes ago. He read it and inwardly, the last few shreds of resistance fell apart.   
“MI6.” He said. The man nodded and gave an unfriendly smile. 

“I trust we have reached an understanding?” He said. 

“Yeah.” Grant said, subdued for once in his life. “Yes.” 

Back in Portland, the three read through the files Hardison had just received via email with the words, “Thank you for the intel. It proved very useful. - T” 

“I almost wish we’d been able to take him down.” Hardison bemoaned. “But this’ll do.” 

“Is Blunt human?” Parker said, staring at the video feed. “How is he so… grey?” 

“He’s a spy.” Eliot dismissed. His eye caught on some of the information from MI6. “Hardison, you’re still in MI6’s database, right?” 

“Yeah, why?” Hardison asked. 

“Search a name - Rider.” 

“Alright…” Hardison typed in the name and three files came up. John Rider, Ian Rider, and Alex Rider. 

Eliot growled as he stared at the 15-year-old face, huge on the screen. Hardison clicked on it and the three read through the files, staring in silence. 

“Let’s go steal an intelligence agency,” Parker said. 

**Author's Note:**

> Alex, buddy, you're about to have a rescue mission and a new family. Jack, pack your bags, you're moving to Portland! 
> 
> Right now I'm not planning on continuing this - I have another thing I'm working on and hopefully will be done with soon.


End file.
